Chapter 147: with translation of chapter title

Wuu~~~

The latest improved electric carriage drove calmly along the mountain road.

This carriage is already quite similar to Earth's vehicles, using an offset steering wheel, inflatable tires, and spring suspension; inside there are four seats, two in front and two in back.

The driver is of course Battle Master Ailiya, the co-pilot is a young female intelligence aide from the island's Forest Spirit, and the back seat holds Luosen and his captive, Queen Kao.

Just after leaving the secret aircraft research institute, there was only a single electric carriage running on the mountain road.

When the carriage merged onto a wider road at the intersection, the road became lively, and freight vehicles would appear from time to time.

These freight vehicles are large, with a smokestack emitting blue smoke beside the front cabin, and a huge cargo bin loaded with goods at the rear.

Compared to the electric carriage Luosen rides in, the freight vehicles are not fast, traveling at only about 30 km/h, not much faster than a real horse-drawn carriage, but their cargo capacity is greatly increased, commonly over 10 tons.

In the back seat, Queen Kao kept her face tense, silent, her upper body rigidly upright without moving, not even shifting her eyes much.

Luosen, meanwhile, lay half-reclined on a soft, thick faux-fur chaise, his hands clasped behind his head and his legs crossed, saying, "Ailiya, drive a bit more steadily—we have a distinguished guest today."

Ailiya reluctantly eased her foot on the accelerator: "Yes, sir."

Stonard switched to calling him "sir" as well; upon hearing that, she immediately followed suit, since she also felt that calling him "lord" was awkward.

Luosen then turned to the seated Queen Kao beside him: "Madam, don't keep yourself so tense—I feel exhausted just watching you."

For this queen, he planned to adopt a tight‑inside, loose‑outside appeasement strategy, so as not to provoke too strong a resistance.

Queen Kao indeed felt a sore back; after glancing at Luosen, she eventually imitated him and leaned back against the thick leather chair.

After lying in silence for a while, she suddenly said, "This is not a Black Stone steam carriage."

Silver Moon City already has many Black Stone steam carriages; they run less smoothly, are noisier, and smell much worse, often belching black smoke.

"Your signal lines have huge latency; your puppets may look lifelike, but they lack a falsified soul aura—fine for a short while, but over time it will greatly weaken my grip on the political situation!"

"It's probably due to different arcane traditions; the Kao people are crowded and very cost‑conscious, not caring much about comfort of use."

"Whereas we on the island have higher demands for the user experience of arcane creations."

The queen still shook her head: "No, you missed the point—your Black Stone carriage must contain a very precise power component."

That naturally relates to lightning‑related structures, such as motors, batteries, and the like.

But this is the island's most core secret; before establishing an absolute technological edge, Luosen does not want to leak it.

He chuckled, turned his head to check the sky—the light had already dimmed a bit, and dinner time would be soon.

So he changed the subject: "Madam, my castle is rather simple; please bear with it."

After a pause, he added: "At dinner, please also explain the situation of the spirit meteorite to me in detail."

The queen was quite familiar with this topic‑shifting tactic, and she also talked to herself.

"Once the queen's control over Kao weakens, her hostage value will diminish; if her position is supplanted, she would become a disposable pawn, even used as an excuse for Kao to sanction White Sturgeon Island."

Luosen naturally knows this: "I will establish a zero‑latency communication link within a month, and at the same time create even more lifelike arcane puppets."

His current arcane knowledge has advanced a great step beyond what was needed to construct Akali earlier.

Thanks to the ice‑envoy Lafengge, his understanding of otherworldly human anatomy far surpasses before.

This understanding did not come from that immature secret technique for breaking the ring wall; rather, because he later sneaked back to blow up ships and, incidentally, visited the demoness laboratory, recording all relevant human‑body research data.

Admittedly, the origin of this data is extremely evil, but it is indeed extremely valuable.

In short, Luosen can now craft arcane puppets that completely conceal themselves from the perception of Four‑ring Arcane Masters.

The queen doubted: "The two places are over three thousand kilometers apart—how could there be no delay in communication?"

Luosen laughed: "Strictly speaking, there is delay, but it's no more than 0.2 seconds."

Luosen laughed heartily: "Strictly speaking, there is a delay, but it does not exceed 0.2 seconds."

"We'll see."

At this moment, the carriage entered the Crescent City district.

The district has expanded considerably; the original walls are now useless, especially on the west side of Crescent City, where new buildings almost merge with White Sturgeon Harbor.

As night fell, many buildings lit up with rune lightning lamps; the daytime‑looking rectilinear tempered‑clay structures, under the lights' adornment, became remarkably splendid at night.

Through the carriage window, the queen gazed at all this, a flicker of surprise in her eyes as she sensed: "Lord, your research on lightning power is remarkably profound."

She had never seen such a splendid night scene in any other city on the White Continent.

Setting aside personal biases, purely in terms of arcane prowess, the queen greatly admires Luosen.

She believes he is likely one of the highest‑achieving mages in the Arcane community of the Natural Alliance.

If used well, he could even be a strategic mage capable of altering a nation's fate.

It is precisely this that prompted her to risk coming to capture him, yet she failed—and ended up entrapping herself.

Luosen naturally sensed the queen's mood, smiled, and spoke via Spiritual Whisper.

"Thank you for the praise, Your Majesty, but there's no need for you to feel too downcast; I will use Kao's power with great caution."

"Thank Your Majesty for the praise, but Your Majesty need not be too disheartened; I will use Kao's power very cautiously."

At that moment, the carriage drove into the castle and stopped before the lord's longhouse, filled with retro style.

It was dinner time, and Luosen had already notified the kitchen of the incoming guest, so the meal would be more lavish than usual—adding three dishes to the standard seven‑course dinner.

Soon, Luosen brought the queen to the dining hall, where four people were already seated at the table: Luosen's family and the mentor Anna.

Luosen wasn't worried that the queen might harm his family, since everyone wore powerful ice talismans, while the queen bore no arcane devices.

This arrangement had its effect: the queen's anxious nerves eased considerably, and her wariness of Luosen diminished as well.

Her impression of him shifted from a cold‑hearted, ruthless baron to a normal person with flesh and blood.

After sitting down, Luosen began to introduce: "This is Lady Nana, a distinguished guest from the island. If all goes well, she will reside here long‑term."

The four women all found it strange, not understanding why Luosen said that.

However, Mrs. Saxon and Evelyn were merely surprised, while the two Arcane Masters, Selena and Anna, felt truly shocked.

But Mrs. Sachsen and Evelyn were simply surprised, while the two Arcane Masters Selena and Anna were still shocked.

Not only because the queen's bearing was extraordinarily noble and graceful, but also because her magical power was immensely vast.

Selena hurriedly asked: "What is this lady's background?"

After speaking, she felt rude: "Madam Nana, I was presumptuous; I apologize to you."

The queen, however, stared at Selena's swollen belly, also looking surprised: "I don't understand, how could it happen so fast?"

According to the information she received, the Baron and the Dawn Princess had been together for less than half a year, so how could they already have a child? She couldn't help but suspect that the two had secretly been together for several years.

Selena smiled and said: "It is the blessing of Mother Nature."

Luosen also laughed: "The food will get cold; let's eat first, then talk after we finish."

Since that was the case, everyone said nothing more and just ate and drank as they should.

After the meal, Luosen, Selena, and Anna, three mages, together with the Queen of Kao, came to the original Magic Method Center in the castle's backyard.

After the spacious new Magic Method Center was established, this place naturally became vacant, but it was not idle; it is currently Luosen's personal Magic Method Laboratory.

In the middle of the basement sits the seized spirit meteorite.

Here, Luosen first activated a no-interest crystal wall, then formally introduced: "This is, the Queen of Kao, full name."

Nana Silge. I come from a commoner background, have no surname, so I take my husband's surname.

The queen's tone was very calm, yet it shocked the two women greatly.

No matter how they thought, they couldn't understand how the Queen of Kao would come to White Sturgeon Island.

Luosen didn't want to elaborate on the details, lest it provoke hostility from the two women.

This is the spirit meteorite, a supreme treasure specially sent by His Majesty; its function is to convert Lightning Power into zero-ring spirit power.

This remark made the Queen of Kao secretly wry-smile, and it instantly drew the attention of the two women.

Because this is converting lowly power into noble power; even if it's only zero-ring, it is still noble power.

Luosen looked at the queen: "Your Majesty, please explain how to use this thing?"

The queen pointed to the platform beneath the meteorite: "This is an ultra-large-capacity lightning crystal lattice array; its strength is not high, only Three-ring, but it can hold a full three hundred units of standard master magical power."

Luosen immediately understood: "When in use, just pour all this lightning power into the meteorite, and it can be transformed into a vast amount of spirit power."

Yes, this is also the meteorite's conversion limit; any more would be useless. Of course, this limit is already extremely high.

It is indeed astonishingly high!

Standard master magical power is a newly proposed measurement standard that has begun to spread on the White Continent, but is not yet universal in Weilan.

It represents the total magical power of a certain four-ring Arcane Master named Clark at the moment he just entered the four-ring stage.

This Clark also holds another identity: former head of the Kao Black Rose Arcane Department.

He created a method for precisely measuring total magical power.

And his total magical power is roughly half that of the topmost Arcane Masters.

Using this standard, Selena, who has just entered the four-ring stage, has about 1.8 units of standard master magical power, while Anna has 1.7 units, which is considered very excellent.

Selena curiously asked: "What is the conversion efficiency, then?"

The queen smiled and said: "Princess, your question is hard to answer because there is currently no benchmark for converting lowly power into noble power."

But according to our measurement method, it is fifty percent.

After a pause, she explained in detail: "This is compared to directly exchanging magical power for spirit power."

One unit of magical power can be converted into one unit of spirit power, but after going through this meteorite once, only 0.5 unit remains.

A very clear explanation.

That is to say, a single burst is equivalent to 150 standard Arcane Masters simultaneously releasing all their magical power to cast a zero-ring sleep spell.

Luosen suddenly realized: "No wonder the effect is so astonishing, but it's hard to pinpoint a single target, right?"

The queen nodded: "The power is too vast; it can only lock onto a vague area. The more targets within that area, the more the attack power gets dispersed."

This remark made Luosen secretly feel fortunate.

Fortunately, he summoned three high-ring mages, plus hundreds from the Research Bureau to share the burden; if all that power were poured into a single person, he would surely pass out without a sound.

Luosen approached the meteorite again, reached out to touch the strange blue stone: "Can it be split for use?"

We don't know, because it is extremely tough, and moreover no one dares to easily split it for fear of damaging it.

Such a great treasure, indeed we dare not casually tamper with it.

But if we don't study it, it will forever remain at this capability—strong, yet impossible to improve.

After careful observation, Luosen concluded: "It should be separable, and after separation it would still be effective, because the meteorite bears traces of burning and fracturing."

Saying that, he attempted to use the Lightning Disintegration Technique to split off a piece.

Hum~~

The blue stone successfully split off a fist-sized fragment, while simultaneously releasing a wave of scattered spirit power that made the four people nearby feel a faint pang of anxiety.

The three women instinctively stepped back one pace, while Luosen stepped forward, his face full of intense interest.

Good stuff~ really good stuff; as long as it is Lightning Power, it can naturally be transformed into spirit power!

Moreover, the converted spirit power retains the information from the Lightning Power!

That latter point is especially useful, instantly giving Luosen several ideas for applications.

Then, using Transmutation Alchemy to analyze its composition, a conclusion was quickly reached.

The composition is not complicated; it is simply very rare.

It is a mixture of oxides of various rare-earth elements and metals, somewhat similar to the superconducting oxides of the previous life.

The good news is that it can be artificially synthesized!

But the bad news is that the elements are extremely rare; although the relevant raw materials can be found, they are all very expensive.

To synthesize it in large quantities for use, one must first locate the corresponding rare-earth ore.

But since it can be synthesized, large-scale application is merely a matter of time.

He burst out laughing: "Her Majesty Nana, you've come at just the right time~~~ ahahaha~~"

Originally, he had been thinking about what kind of weapon to install on the airplane to achieve maximum deterrence while also minimizing loss.

Now the queen directly sent him the best civil-war weapon, or rather, the most merciful weapon! As for the specific conversion principle, Luosen is also curious, because only by understanding the principle can he make further progress.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to study it right now.

But it doesn't matter, because there's a genius mage named Kavendi on the island who specializes in turning low ability into high ability.

If this thing were handed to him, he'd be so happy he'd faint.

(End of chapter)